


relight that spark (time to come out of the dark)

by lavi0123



Series: wake that spirit, i wanna hear it [7]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (i say as if one of my maiko oneshots wasn't about this au too), Aang (Avatar)-centric, Aang Week 2021, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, Prompt 7: Love, the long-awaited soulmate au is finally being introduced!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-19 03:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29744196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavi0123/pseuds/lavi0123
Summary: Aang is three when he asks about the soulmarks.“A soulmark,” Gyatso says, “is a mark of your bond with someone. It appears when one of you has done something nice for the other.”Or: Aang's relationship with the Air Nomads, as shown through their soulmarks on him
Relationships: Aang & Air Nomads (Avatar), Aang & Gyatso (Avatar), Aang & Katara & Sokka (Avatar)
Series: wake that spirit, i wanna hear it [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2175876
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	relight that spark (time to come out of the dark)

_“Love is brightest in the dark.”_

**_Katara to Aang, Book 2, Episode 2: The Cave of Two Lovers_ **

* * *

Aang is three when he asks about the soulmarks.

“A soulmark,” Gyatso says, “is a mark of your bond with someone. It appears when one of you has done something nice for the other.”

Aang looks at his soulmarks, bright blue arrows scattered around his feet, and his eyes widen. “But...but I haven’t done anything for this many people!”

“Ah, but it can go either way, Aang.” Gyatso smiles. “And you’d be surprised, what the other person considers an act of kindness. Even something as simple as a smile when they feel down can qualify.”

“Oh,” Aang breathes, feeling an enormous sense of awe. “Do both people get their soulmarks at the same time?”

“Each soulmate gets the mark of the other when they perceive the chance for a positive relationship,” Gyatso explains.

“So...so they can be unpaired?”

“They can,” Gyatso agrees softly, “but this is rare, Aang, and you aren’t likely to meet anyone unpaired.”

The memories of Monk Tashi praising Aang’s quick memory, Monk Pasang helping him with a particularly difficult bending form, Gyatso meditating with him in the courtyard...thinking of each one sends a warm feeling through Aang’s body, concentrated at three specific points–his right shin, the top of his left foot, and the big toe of his right foot. He gasps.

“I should mention,” Gyatso adds, “that every time you think of your soulmate, their mark on you warms up. And the soulmarks are in inverted places–for example, where is your soulmark of me, Aang?”

Aang looks around at his feet, distressed for a moment. _There are so many arrows...how do I know?_

“Remember, Aang,” Gyatso murmurs, “thinking of one of your soulmates warms up their mark.”

Aang is young and still unsure, but he takes Gyatso’s hand and _squeezes_.

A mark on his left shin lights up with warmth, and Aang grins as he touches it. “Here!” Then he notices the silver aura around it and frowns. “Why is it that color?”

“The silver means very, very close friends, Aang, or at least not family by birth. I have one right here, you see?” Gyatso shifts around a bit to show off his right shin, where a blue arrow gleams, glowing silver. “You have mine on your left shin, and I have yours on my right shin. What do you think happens when we touch them?”

Aang shrugs, then brightens. “Let’s find out!”

Gyatso smiles, then touches his soulmark to Aang’s. A powerful feeling of warmth sweeps through them both, and Aang giggles.

“That was awesome!” He cheers, eyes bright. “Can we do it again?”

* * *

When he wakes up from the iceberg, seeing Katara’s warm smile, he feels another soulmark appear on his right palm–a wave, curled as if poised to crash on some invisible shore, ringed with silver.

His feet also feel so very, very _cold_. But perhaps that’s just the aftereffects of the iceberg.

( _If that’s the case, then why is Katara’s mark on me so_ warm _?_ )

When Sokka’s mark appears, later, Aang pushes his doubts deeper still.

_We’ll find them. We’ll help them._

_Do you still believe that?_

* * *

100 years.

It’s been 100 years since left his people defenseless, since the Fire Nation massacred them, since…

Since his temple was _destroyed_.

It doesn’t feel real, at first. 100 is such an abstract number to a child, and that length of time is inconceivable to almost anyone. Who ever heard of running away, nearly drowning, and waking just moments later to find that, in fact, 100 years have passed and everyone you loved is nothing but ashes?

But walking around the Temple, seeing firsthand the destruction wrought? The red rags strewn around, the scorch marks on every surface, the crumbled structures and broken rooms where he used to play? It hurts, deeper than Aang thought was possible.

His feet flicker with something sharp, and he winces.

By far the worst part is finding the skeleton.

Frail, worn, and so lifeless–he almost wouldn’t believe it to be Gyatso if not for the necklace around his neck and the resemblance–however faint–to the statue out front.

He doesn’t remember anything after the scream, loud and sharp and _aching_ , and if he weren’t so broken inside, maybe he would help, but he can’t even _move_.

_Spirits, no…_

_No…_

* * *

He realizes now, why his feet are so numb, so cold, so…

So _dead_.

As Katara pulls him out of the Avatar State, pulls him against her, he remembers words whispered among the older acolytes and monks, words that he was never meant to hear.

Soulmarks warm up with contact and loving thought, and only then, but...they are never meant to be _cold_.

The whispers said that a cold soulmark condemned one to a dead soulmate. It was never spoken of–soulmarks are always meant to be warm or at least the same temperature as their bearer–but some things can’t be concealed forever.

Aang realizes why, and he wishes he didn’t.

He curls up into a ball and _wails_.

* * *

If he’d known it would hurt so much to lose them…

Would he still have run away?

He still doesn't know.

Sometimes, he thinks about them. Thinks about the way Gyatso’s mark on him lit up every time they hugged; how the other acolytes would sometimes knock their feet together when feeling particularly sad; how even while the monks delivered the news of him being the Avatar and wanted to separate him from Gyatso, they thought they were doing him a kindness.

And, in a strange roundabout way, they did. If he hadn’t run away, if he’d stayed…

He shudders now to think of it.

“Aang?”

He looks up at the concerned faces of his friends and feels his heart break.

“Are you okay?” Sokka asks, slow and careful–he only does this when you’re dangerous, you’re dangerous, you’re scaring–

“Aang,” Katara repeats, firm in her worry, “look at me.”

He moves his gaze from Sokka to lock on Katara’s–bright and blue and blazing, full of fierce, determined love. She raises her left palm to show a blue arrow, glowing silver.

Following his sister’s cue, Sokka raises his right palm, revealing the same mark there.

 _I did that_ , Aang realizes, a little dazed. _Somehow, they chose me. I...how? How did I–?_

_“It can go either way, Aang. And you’d be surprised, what the other person considers an act of kindness. Even something as simple as a smile when they feel down can qualify.”_

“We love you,” Katara says, reaching out to grab his left hand with her right. Sokka grabs his right hand with his left, echoing Katara’s words with a fierce conviction and, “Forever and always, buddy.”

His palms have never felt warmer.

“I love you, too,” Aang whispers, and deep in his heart, he finds that he _means_ it.

**Author's Note:**

> The Soulmate AU is finally here! Featuring platonic and romantic soulmates, as well as family.
> 
> I should clarify that the ranking is not a hierarchy or tier system–but it is perceived that way by many (as I'll be exploring in later oneshots)! Family is gold here because it is THEORETICALLY supposed to be the first chronological example of unselfish love, with friendship being the second example, and love being the third.
> 
> Also, Aang doesn't freak out when Gyatso basically says he's adopted because...he pretty much knows that, even at 3. All the Air Nomads are likely raised knowing that they're adopted but loved no less.
> 
> The series for this AU is set up, and I'll be adding a description soon, so keep an eye out for more updates there! Thank you so much for reading my Aang Week oneshots :D and go listen to the song that I've used for titling all of these! I feel it fits Aang really well.


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